When a hearing gets underway this afternoon in Roman Polanski's attempt to have a 1977 child sex case against him dismissed, documentary filmmaker Marina Zenovich will take a seat in the jury box alongside her cameraman.
The position allows a good angle for capturing action in the well of the courtroom, but it is also a fitting metaphor for the central role Zenovich and her lens have played in revisiting the case.
New information in her documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," forms the basis of the director's request for dismissal of the case. His charges of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct are grounded in revelations in the film, which HBO aired last year.
In court papers, Polanski's lawyers quoted extensively from Zenovich's interviews with former prosecutors and a defense attorney, and they submitted a DVD and transcript of the film to the judge considering the case.
The effect of the documentary initially surprised Zenovich, a former actress whose previous films were more lighthearted examinations of subjects such as a pan-European singing contest and a French criminal turned actor.
"It was never my goal. I just wanted to finish the film and get it out there so people could see it," said the 45-year-old who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and young son.
Zenovich plans to tape today's proceedings with an eye toward a follow-up, but whether the movie gets the case reopened, let alone dismissed, remains unclear.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office opposed even putting the hearing on the court calendar because of Polanski's fugitive status. Prosecutors contend that Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza should not entertain the request for dismissal until the director surrenders to U.S. authorities.
"Polanski can't ask this court to do anything," Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick Dixon said during a hearing Friday.
Zenovich said she had tried to remain impartial, but was frustrated by the prosecution's emphasis on challenging Polanski's legal standing to protest his case, rather than the allegations of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.
"I am shocked at how the facts are just being ignored," she said.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, declined to comment on the role of Zenovich's film.
"We will have plenty to say inside court," Gibbons said.
